Free Essau Comparing "Doubt" Movie and Play

Making an analysis of a movie is one way that a person can understand the significance of the themes in the play or the movie. Connecting a movie that has the same storyline as the play version makes it possible to understand the way the movie is used to build the theme in the play. The play could also be used to understand a theme in a movie with the same story. The setting of the movie "Doubt" is in St. Nicholas which is a school in the Bronx.The story revolves around two main characters, that is, Father Flynn, who is the Catholic priest in charge of the church and Sister Aloysius who is in charge of the school. The conflict between the sister Aloysius and the priest leads to the name of the movie, which is "Doubt." That is because what brings the conflict is the doubt that sister Aloysius has on the priest. It is the doubt that makes her feel that the priest is not fit to make the community become better. According to her, the priest is a child molester who deserves to be removed from the church and replaced by another priest who will protect the rights and interests of the children in the school. The theme of doubt manifests in the movie as it also manifests in the play "Doubt." The movie version of "Doubt" helps increase both the essence and the theme of doubt through the acted scenes. In this paper, the theme of doubt is discussed based on both the movie and the play to help understand how the movie increased both the essence and the theme of doubt.

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The Theme of "Doubt"

Sister Aloysius is one of the characters in the movie that helps build the theme of doubt; she expresses doubt both in her actions and words. She doubts not only people like father Flynn but also the modern life where people embrace technology and industrialization. The setting of the movie is at a time that people had issues of integrity with the Catholic church, issues of rape and child molestation were among the cases facing some of the Catholic priests. The story addressed the doubt that people had in the Catholic priest. Many people including some of the nuns within the church gossiped about the priest and accused him of molesting a child. The entire movie is suspense of the theme doubt as a lot is left unanswered. One of the questions that people remain asking themselves is whether the priest was really guilty of the child molestation accusation leveled against him by Sister Aloysius. One of the issues that make the priest be a suspect is the fact that he admits having lied about the gossip story he used in a sermon. Due to this, the theme of doubt is expressed in terms of whether the priest is truthful to the doctrines of the church as well. The priest is not expected to be a liar, but in this case, he admits to lying and casts a lot of doubt among the people who are supposed to believe in everything he says. Lies propagate doubt in both the movie and the play "Doubt."The Significance of the Movie

The movie doubt makes it easier for people to understand the essence of the story as they do not have to read, they simply watch what is acted in a language they understand. In the movie, the priest concludes the sermon by saying that " doubt can be a bong as powerful, as sustaining as certainty." When one watches the movie , he or she gets the chance to read both the body language and understand the wordings of the phrase, hence putting the theme into a better perspective as compared to the play, where one only reads what the priest said. The movie uses the visual images that make it easier for people to follow a story without having to flip through pages to watch. Furthermore, the movie makes it possible for the audience to see the essence of the story in practicality, however, one may think of any theme while watching a movie, however, in this case, the theme of doubt, being the title of the movie and the overriding theme, become clear and authentic to the people watching the movie.

The theme of the movie is doubt and as it is expressed right from the beginning of the movie, the theme is used during the sermon by Father Flynn. According to him, the topic of the sermon suits the congregation since the truth about reality is not valued by many people. He later comes to admits to Sister James that he fictionalized the story during the sermon on gossip. He also told Sister James that the theme was mainly to catch the attention of the audience. The father stated that "The truth makes for a bad sermon. It tends to be confusing and has no clear conclusion." Again, according to the father, he gave the assurance on his topic doubt and told his congregation that having doubt in daily lives makes people be part of the big community at the same times enables people to be able to struggle in order to make sense in people that lives around us. Following what father Flynn said concerning doubt, he made it clear to his congregation that doubt has the ability to confuse many people about the real truth. People view truth in any way but when a person has doubt about the truth then viewing the truth and believing in it becomes very tricky and by doing they what people see and believe in the process also change. In the play, the opening statement by Father Flynn expresses doubt, which is made practical in the movie. In the play, father Flynn askes, a rhetoric question that "What do you do when you're not sure?" in as much as that question needed no answer, it expresses the main theme in the play that people may doubt something and they need to know how to deal with their doubts.

Conclusion

In summary, the theme of doubt, which is the title of both the play and the movie becomes important in understanding the aim of both the movie and the play. When connecting the content of the play with the movie, the theme of doubt comes out clearer as the play also gives what is like the real-life situation of the theme doubt acted in the movie. The play is a version of the movie that tries to make the scenes in the movie more practical. However, the play and the movie both express the theme of doubt as is expressed by the same characters in the movie. The play, however, brings out a practicality aspect of the doubt. The movie is an important piece of the act through which visuals are used to help people put the theme of doubt and the essence of the story into perspective.

Works Cited

Ebert, Roger. "Doubt Movie Review & Film Summary (2008) | Roger Ebert". Rogerebert.Com, 2008, https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/doubt-2008. Accessed 13 Apr 2018.

IMDb. "Doubt (2008)". IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0918927/plotsummary. Accessed 13 Apr 2018.

YouTube. Doubt Full Movies. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GVjrMUAI3I. Accessed 13 Apr 2018.